Facts About The Niagara River Gorge Rim Study To Restore Native Landscapes

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I was surprised to read a recent Niagara Gazette letter that stated the Wild Ones Niagara (WON) chapter is “made up of individuals who, by and large, belong to the Niagara Heritage Partnership (NHP). That is not true. The letter also said, “NHP joined forces with the national Wild Ones organization in an effort to give new life to their endeavor [to remove the Robert Moses Parkway].” Again, not true. We don’t sell or divulge member information, so I’m not sure how the letter writer, Michael Parsnick, came to those conclusions.

Here are the facts. If you join a Wild Ones Chapter, you have also joined the National organization. WON has 57 members. Four members (0.07%) belong to NHP. Recently, Wild Ones National surveyed their 2,000+ members asking why they joined. The main responses were an interest in regional native plants and wanting to learn more about them.

The Wild Ones Niagara study, Regional Economic Growth Through Ecological Restoration of the Niagara Gorge Rim, is not “duplication.” In the last twelve years, no one has provided the public with any socioeconomic statistics or revealed what educational and professional opportunities could occur if an ecological restoration along the Niagara River Gorge Rim included only a non-motorized, active transportation trail.

Wild Ones Niagara hired an environmental design firm from Syracuse, NY, EDR, to research the economic benefits of replacing the current conditions along the gorge rim with restored native landscapes replete with active modes of recreation—walking, hiking, and bicycling. Some call it eco-tourism, heritage tourism, cultural tourism, active tourism, or creative tourism. We call it raising our quality of life and creating professional career opportunities for current and future residents. Niagara rising after Love Canal.

WON is advocating for an ecological restoration of the botanically unique gorge and gorge rim landscapes, not Robert Moses Parkway removal. Our mission statement, “Create a sense of place through regional native plants, ecological restoration, conservation biodiversity, and open space preservation” clearly reflects our intentions, objectives, and goals.

Before receiving any Niagara River Greenway Funding, we provided a requested statement to the Greenway Ecological Standing Committee that clearly said our project is a study. It is not about an action. The study, in progress since March, is examining the potential educational, social, economic, and environmental benefits of conservation biodiversity, open space preservation, restoring the Niagara Gorge Rim.

Before presenting our project to The Niagara River Greenway Commission, we obtained The Seattle Mobility Plan and research from the Trust for Public Land, a national organization endorsed by the Buffalo Niagara Partnership as an Authority. The Buffalo Niagara Partnership is a business leadership organization. The information, provided by national and world experts, is on our website, www.wildonesniagara.org

According to a document prepared by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI, University of Massachusetts, Amherst), the economic benefits of “maintaining the natural environment” are measurable. It’s called environmental economics. PERI’s report, The NYS Park System: An Economic Asset to the Empire State, “challenges the presumption that there are stark trade-offs between generating jobs and protecting the environment.” In addition, it says, “quality of life in New York improve[s], and thereby influences business location decisions and the ability to attract a high-quality workforce.”

Other research has found many positive socioeconomic benefits could occur and significantly improve the quality of life for our residents and our region if the NHP proposal and our study were embraced, implemented, and marketed.

Wild Ones Niagara has systematically provided the public with well-documented facts, not Chicken Little antics. A study to restore the native landscapes between Niagara Falls, NY and Lewiston carries substantial socioeconomic merit. High paying professional careers, education opportunities for our young people, quality of life through natural ecological services, and the revitalization of urban centers are a few of the opportunities noted by land planners around the world. Our Wild Ones study could literally change how we live in our region.

We believe an informed public is empowered and agree with Mr. Parsnick that being “vigilant” is important, especially when it concerns the local officials he referenced.  All bureaucrats have an obligation to be fully informed about an issue. If they don’t like what they hear, they still have an obligation to tell you everything so you can decide. In our opinion, it is a sad commentary on any elected official’s integrity if they refuse to respect information and attempt to denigrate and suppress it.

UB President, John Simpson summarized it best when he said, “It is hard to understand a logic based on an unwillingness to change an obvious failed status quo.” So, why would some elected officials deliberately place our greatest asset--the City of Niagara Falls, the waterfalls, the gorge, and rim—“in a remarkably disadvantaged position?” Why would any elected official attempt to “hamstring one of our best opportunities” for economic development, something that has the potential to benefit everyone?

Merely keeping what we have now without exploring all of the opportunities for ecological and economic excellence is discrimination. It suppresses. We feel an informed public coupled with documented, authoritative information is a civic right. You have a right to know all the facts and socioeconomic possibilities that could occur with a fully restored Niagara Gorge Rim.

Michelle Vanstrom, President, Niagara Falls and River Region Chapter and

National Board Member, Wild Ones Native Plants, Natural Landscapes 

Related articles

• Letter to Niagara River Greenway (fadingintomyth.blogspot.com)

Global Warming - What You Can Do For Pollinators

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FAQ
Q: What can we possibly do if the loss of bees is due to climate change? (Not poor sources of pollen)

A: According to the book I am reading, Keeping Bees, the major causes of bee decline are pesticide use, climate change, invasive species, and habitat fragmentation. Some predict up to 60% of the planet's species will be unable to find enough suitable habitat for their populations to be viable. What you can do follows:

1. “Grow bee -friendly plants, preferably native species local to where you live. Not cultivars, native. Some suggestions: asters, blazing star, golden rod, helianthus (sunflower), Joe-pye weed, coneflower, bergamot (bee balm), evening primrose, cinquefoil, milkweed, willows. Plan to plant so the garden is aesthetically pleasing. Most won't get the premise, which is why education is important.

2. Vegetables that attract bees include squash, tomatoes, strawberries, fennel, coriander, and other umbellifers. Raspberries and blackberries' flowers feed bees and their old stems provide a place for them to rest. Provide nest sites for bees. Blackberry and raspberry canes are used by small carpenter bees, masked bees, small relatives of the leaf utter bees and orchard bees use the old canes as nesting sites and they overwintering inside them.

If... you have wooden benches, fences, or a grape arbor, let the bees burrow into them.

If you have ground bees you should cherish them and consider yourself lucky.

Do not apply wood chips, pebbles, or other surface obstructing materials. Almost no bees will be able to reach the soil.

3. Do not use pesticides.

4. Buy organic food whenever possible.

5. Walk on the grass. Ground nesting bees prefer bare spaces created by those who ignore do not walk on the grass instructions.

6. Encourage bee-friendly practices at various government levels.”

Locally, letters went out in May asking our politicians to join a national movement claiming their level of government as a supporter of National Pollinator Week ( the last week of June). Not one elected official responded. We live in an agricultural region.

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Year-long study will focus on restoration of gorge from Falls to Lewiston

Year-long study will focus on restoration of gorge from Falls to Lewiston

That's the June 9, 2010 Niagara Gazette article link. Our residents and readers deserve to know "the rest of the story." The actual press release that was emailed to the newspaper is below. Please note the differences:

[1] The city of Niagara Falls, NY endorsed the project, not just the Mayor. New York State Parks and The Town of Lewiston also endorsed the project. The endorsement letters are on the Wild Ones Niagara website and in the Greenway Proposal.

[2] The emphasis in the Wild Ones Niagara press release was about information, cooperation, the economic benefits open space preservation, and working outside of the local political constraints.

[3] Wild Ones Niagara does advocate for the removal of the Robert Moses Parkway, HOWEVER, this study is not about removing it. It's an ecological and economic evaluation by environmental research experts of what the Niagara Gorge Rim and what the Niagara River Greenway could be if the the area were ecologically restored.

Are there potential economic benefits for the region? Preliminary research conducted by Wild Ones Niagara revealed that it's absolutely feasible. In the billions, if done correctly. Again, the documents are on the Wild Ones Niagara website, under Advocacy. Why was that information omitted?

[4] The Wild Ones study will only offer suggestions for area municipalities, not enforce them. This was clearly stated in the phone conversation with the newspaper.

[5] The end result of the study is an interactive, "fly-over" media presentation so people could see the possibilities and realize what a jewel the Niagara River Greenway could become. That was left out of the  newspaper.

[6] The Wild Ones Niagara press release also states that history was made several times. That information was omitted in the article.

[7] It's also interesting how the newspaper left out the fact that Eastern Hospitality Advisors builds major chain hotels and has global associations in the hospitality industry.

[8] The article focused on the road, the Robert Moses Parkway. The Wild Ones Niagara project and press release focuses on the Niagara River Greenway Principals, Goals and Criteria as outlined in the Niagara River Greenway Plan.

The Niagara Falls and River Region Chapter of Wild Ones Native Plants, Natural Landscapes (Wild Ones Niagara) has contracted Environmental Research and Design, PC (EDR),an environmental consulting and design firm with offices in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, to prepare an ecological restoration plan for the Niagara Gorge Rim area.

The restoration plan will identify the current imbalances within the ecological and man-made (built) environments and will recommend restoration projects to reinvigorate both the ecological and built communities in this area. The Restoration Plan recognizes that the natural and man-made environments are required components to a sustainable and vibrant community, which must be measured, managed, and put in balance with each other. To this end, the Restoration Plan will provide a natural resource-based approach to guide environmental and community restoration in this area.

The Restoration Plan area will cross multiple jurisdictional boundaries. The purpose of the Restoration Plan is to provide a unifying tool for bringing the multiple jurisdictions together through projects that work to achieve the following:

• To protect and restore the Gorge and Gorge Rim’s botanical uniqueness, significant wildlife habitat, and the watershed for future generations,

• To create riverfront access by breaking down physical boundaries between the adjacent neighborhoods and the Gorge Rim area,

• To improve the long-term economic outlook of the region through adjacent neighborhood revitalization, increased ecotourism, and Creative Tourism, and,

• To develop the means for telling the many compelling stories of our region: natural history,  geology, ecological and cultural history, hydroelectricity, civil engineering, industry, and

• To reestablish Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr.’s vision for the waterfalls of Niagara and the gorge.

The Restoration Plan will identify specific projects that can be pursued by different entities within the area, such as: New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, the New York Department of Transportation, Niagara County, the City of Niagara Falls, the Village and Town of Lewiston, the New York Power Authority, Niagara University, and local neighborhood groups.

The fully-funded Wild Ones Niagara project created history within the Niagara River Greenway. Wild Ones Niagara bridged political constraints, opened municipal boundaries of co-operation, and obtained a major private investor with global associations in the Hospitality Industry, Eastern Hospitality Advisors (EHA), a construction management firm that builds hotels. EHA has a keen interest in the Niagara River Greenway and in preserving the natural landscapes of the Niagara Gorge Rim. The plan obtained the majority of its funding from the Niagara River Greenway Ecological Standing Committee.

The City of Niagara Falls is the sponsor for this Niagara River Greenway project. The restoration plan received the mandated consistency determination from the Niagara River Greenway Commission in September 2009 and written endorsement from the Town of Lewiston Supervisor, Steve Reiter, and Mark Thomas, Western Director of New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.<

Wild Ones Niagara is a member driven, educational advocacy organization committed to enhancing regional community efforts to establish or maintain natural areas. Chapters of Wild Ones Native Plants, Natural Landscapes work with local schools, scout groups, and other organizations to create butterfly gardens, rainwater gardens, and other native plant projects. Wild Ones Niagara advocates establishing personal relationships with the natural world that invite native plants and wildlife back into our immediate lives.

EDR’s services include Landscape Architecture, Planning, Environmental Services, Engineering and Surveying. EDR is dedicated to having a profound, relevant effect on the environment while fulfilling end-user needs. Their methods incorporate all available historical, cultural, financial, and environmental resources into their designs while maintaining a hands-on respect for the land. EDR offers a variety of integrated disciplines to turn land use challenges into opportunities for lasting improvement to our living environment.